Territory



' (No Model.)

0 J SGHENOK PLATE POE RAILWAY RAILS.

No. 565,801. Patented Aug 11 1896.

ATTORIVHS.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

CHARLES J. SOHENCK, OF GILA BEND, ARIZONA TERRITORY, ASSIGNOR OFONE-HALF TO ADOLPH O. LANGLOTZ, OF SAN SIMON, ARIZONA TERRITORY.

PLATE FO R R Al LWAY-RAILS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 565,801, dated August11, 1896.

Application filed March '12, 1896. Serial No. 582,889. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. ScHENcK, of Gila Bend, in the county ofMaricopa and Territory of Arizona, have invented a new andImprovedTie-Plate for Railway-Rails,

. position, although it may be badly broken.

A further object of the invention is to provide a means whereby portionsof the grippin g-surface of the tie-plates may be extended upward toengage with the head of the rail at one or both sides, forming thereby asuperior brace for the rails, especially at their outer sides upon acurve and where the tie- .plates are employed instead of fish-plates toconnect the ends of the rails.

A further object of the invention is to construct the tie-plates in suchmanner that they may be expeditiously and conveniently applied to therail, and in such manner that many combinations may be formed for usefor especial purposes, the tie-plate being likewise so constructed thatwhen applied to the rail it will entirely prevent creeping of the same.

The invention consists in the n ovel construction and combination of theseveral parts, as will be hereinafter fullyset forth, and pointed out inthe claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification,

in which. similar characters of reference indicate corresponding partsin all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a rail and a tie-plateapplied to the same, the plate being especially adapted for use uponstraight lines of track, or tracks which are substantially straight.Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of the female member of thetie-plate shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the malemember of the plate illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 4: is a perspective Viewof a portion of a rail and a tieplate applied to the same, the platebeing slightly modified in form and particularly adapted for use at thejoints of the rails. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the femalemember of the tie-plate shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a detail perspectiveview of the male member of the same plate; and Fig. 7 is a verticalsection through a rail and the tie-plate shown in Fig. 1, illustratingthe manner in which the members ofthe tie-plate may be separated toconveniently receive the rail.

The tie-plate is made in two sections, a male section A and a femalesection B.

When the tie-plate is to be used on a straight line of track, or a lineof track that is substantially straight, the members of the plate aremade as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, in which the male member A consists of ahorizontal shank 10, having a horizontal head 11, formed at one of itsends, extending beyond the sides of the shank, and at each inner edge ofthe said head an upwardly-extending flange 12 is formed. Aspring-bearing 13 is produ-cedat the opposite end of the shank, the saidbearing being formed by bending the metal, which is a continuation ofthe shank, over the aforesaid shank, and then outward upon itself,forming practically a loop, which is carried downward substantially tothe end portion of the shank, and then the metal is carried horizontallyoutward in alinement with the end of the shank, forming a flange 13. Thespringbearing and flange in this form of male section of the plate ispreferably of the same width as the width of the shank.

The female member B, adapted to receive the male member A, consists of aplate 14, usually made rectangular and of greater length than the widthof the rail at its flange. A longitudinal opening 14 is made in theaforesaid plate, and at one end of this opening an upwardly-extendingflange 15 is formed, while adjacent to the opposite end of the opening14c a spring-bearing 16 is formed by bending the material of the plateupward and inward over the upper surface of the said plate,

and a flange 16*, extending downwardly and outwardly, is preferably madeintegral with the central portion of the outer side edge of theaforesaid spring-bearing 16.

In assembling the parts of the tie-plate shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 theshank of the male member is passed upward through the opening 14 of thefemale member, the said opening being of corresponding width to that ofthe shank, or practically so. When the shank is so passed through theaforesaid opening, the curved end portion of the shank will bepractically in engagement with the flange 15 of the female member, whilethe flanges 12 of the male member will be in position to pass upward ateach side of the flange 16 of the female member, while thebearing-surface 13 will be in position to engage with the upper face ofthe flange of the rail, the said bearing-surface being of such heightthat it will extend but partially up the inclined face of the flange.

By bending opposing ends of the two plate members downward, as shown inFig. 7, their bearing-surfaces 13 and 16 will be carried outward fromone another, and out from engagement with the flanges l2 and 15, asshown in Fig. 7. The rail may now be readily introduced between thebearingsurfaces, and when the plates are brought to a common level, inorder that they may lie flat on a tie, the bearing-surfaces will bebrought down to positive and clamping engagement with the flanges of therail, as illustrated in Fig. 2, and the two members may then be spikedor otherwise fastened to the tie, suitable openings or recesses for thereception of the spikes having been formed in their side edges.

In Figs. 4, 5, and 6 I have illustrated a slight modification in theform of the tie-plate, in which the male member A is provided with ashank 17 corresponding to the shank l0, heretofore described, a head 18corresponding to the head 11, (shown in Fig. 3,) and flanges 19, whichare formed at the inner edges of the head in the same manner as shownunder the construction of the male member illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3;but the bearing member 20 at the opposite end of the shank 17 is madehigher than the bearing member 13 of the male member A, and is carriedover the upper face of the shank, thence upward and from the upperportion downward and outward, terminating opposite the end of theshank-in a horizontal. flange 20. The inner section of thebearing-surface 20 is provided with an inward curve a where it risesfrom the shank, adapted to extend transversely over the flange of therail, a straight intermediate surface a, adapted for engagement with theweb of the rail, and an upper cylindrical surface a shaped to engagewith the under face of the head of the rail, as illustrated in Fig. 4.The female member B in this modified form of the tie-plate is ofsubstantially the same construction as the female member 13 of the formof plate shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the plate 21 of the female member Bbeing provided with a longitudinal opening 22, a flange 23 at one end ofthe opening, and a spring-bearing 24 at the opposite end of the saidopening. The bearing 24is shaped in the same manner as the bearing 20 ofthe male member A, but the bearing 24 of the female member 13 extendsfrom one side edge of the plate to the other, and is consequently ofmuch greater width than the bearing 20 of the male member, it being of awidth corresponding to that of the shank 17, adapted to be passedthrough the opening 22 in the fem ale member.

The inner portion of the bearing 24 comprises an inner curved surface I)to extend up the flange of the rail, a comparatively-straight surface (2for engagement with the web of the rail, and an upper cylindricalsurface b for engagement with the head of the rail,the lower outer endof the bearing 24 terminating in a flange 24. In assembling the parts ofthe tie-plate (shown in Fig. 4) the bearing of the male member is passedthrough the opening in the female member until the curved end of theshank 17 is in position to engage with the flange 23 of the femalemember, and the two bearing-surfaces 20 and 24 will then be opposite. Bypressing or bending downward the two members of the tie-plate, as shownin Fig. 7, the rail may be introduced between the bearings of thetie-plate, and when the tie-plate is flattened out at its bottom therail will be thoroughly clamped in position.

When the female member B is used, the bearing 24 is placed on theoutside, especially at a curve in a track, and under the form oftie-plate shown in Fig. 1 the bearing 13 will .be preferably inengagement with the inner face of the rail.

By extending one of the bearing-surfaces upward to an engagement withthe head of the rail, the said surface forms a superior brace,especially on the outside of the rail and when employed at a curvedportion of the track. By extending both bearing-surfaces upwardsufficiently high to engage with the head of the rail, and making bothmembers about ten inches wide instead of six, as is ordinary, andplacing the tie-plate on a teninch tie, the fish and angle plates nowemployed to secure the ends of the rails may be done away with,especially on a practically level piece of road.

The different male and female sections may be interchangeably used, as,for example, the male section A forms a tie-plate especially designedfor straight tracks, as illustrated in Fig. 1, and when the femalesection B is used in connection with the male section A a tie-plate isobtained especially adapted for curves, the bearing-surface of the malesection A being placed on the outside, as a brace for the rail. When themale section A is used in connection. with the female section B, a plateis obtained especially adapted for use at the joint of the rails, thebearing-surface 24 of the female member being placed on the outside.

Upon many roads the rails have a strong tendency to work downgrade,especially on curves, the outside of the rail pulling the inside upgradea slight distance, and as the end ties are the only ones that arefastened to the rail so that they cannot slip they are frequently pulledout of line by the sliding of the rails; but when the rails are securedby the tie-plates shown and described the rails will be held so tightlyto the ties that they cannot possibly creep. When a rail is removed froma track, the tie-plate shown in Fig. 4 may be advantageously used at thejoint. By unlocking the members 13 and A used in this form of the'plate,slipping them back on the rail in place on the track, and then after thenew or meeting rail is placed in position the said plate is slipped backover the joint and then pressed downward and locked to the tie.

By making the bearing-surfaces of the members A and B when used togetherfit tight to the Web of the rail the tie-plate will make a joint almostas solid as the rail itself, and is superior in many instances to theplate made by the male section A and the female section B.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. A railway tie-plate comprising a male and a femalemember, the female member being provided with a longitudinal slot and aspring-bearin g at one end carried inwardly over one end of the saidmember, a male member consisting of a shank adapted to be passed throughthe opening in the female member, having a spring-bearing formed at oneof its ends, adapted when in position to be opposite the spring-bearingof the female member, and a head at the opposite end of the shank,extending beyond the sides thereof, being'adapted also to extend beyondthe spring-bearing of the female member, the head of the male memberhaving flanges for engagement with the outer end of the bearing of thefemale member, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A tie-plate for railway-rails, comprising a male and a female member,the female member being provided with a longitudinal slot, a flange atone end of the slot, and a hearing at the opposite end, extending inwardand upward, being provided with an outwardly-extending flange, the malemember consisting of a shank adapted to pass through the opening of thefemale member and fit to the same, a double spring-bearing being formedat one end of the said shank, terminating in a flange, the opposite endof the shank having a head extending beyond its sides, and flangedprojected from the inner extended edges of the said head, whereby, whenthe two members are assembled, their spring-bearings will be opposite,and one end of the shank will rest against the flange of the femalemember, the head of the male member supporting the flange of the femalebearing, and the flanges of the male member engaging with the outer edgeof the said female bearing as and for the purpose specified;

3. A tie-plate for railway-rails, consisting of a male and a femalemember arranged for interlocking engagement, each member being providedwith a spring-bearing surface for engagement with opposite sides of therail, the spring-bearing surfaces of the members facing one another whenthe members are assembled, and a flange on each plate, the flange of oneplate being engaged by the other plate, as and for the purposespecified.

4;. A tie-plate for railway-rails, consisting of a male and a femalemember arranged for interlocking connection, one member being looselypivoted in the other, the said members having opposing spring-bearingsurfaces adapted for engagement with opposite sides of the rail, andstops formed upon both members, the stop of one member having engagementwith the bearing-surface on the oppos ing member, as and for the purposeset forth.

5. A tie-plate for railway-rails, consisting of a male and a femalemember arranged for interlocking connection, one member being looselypivoted in the other, the said members having opposing spring-bearingsurfaces adapted for engagement with opposite sides of the rail, stopsformed upon both members, the stop of one member having engagement withthe bearing-surface on the opposing member, and flanges projected fromopposite ends of the two members, the said flanges being horizontallydisposed and adapted to be secured to the surface on which the tie is torest, as and for the purpose specified.

CHARLES J. SGHENOK.

Witnesses:

J. F. KENT, L. KALTENBACH.

